Warburg Pincus executive buys S$23.9 million Singapore mansion

[SINGAPORE] A Singapore-based managing director of private equity giant Warburg Pincus is buying a S$23.9 million mansion, adding to a wave of high-end property deals that are bolstering the country’s luxury housing market.

Saurabh Agarwal, who is also the head of South-east Asia private equity at the firm, is buying the house which sits on about 835 square metres of land in Jalan Pelangi, according to details of a September deal seen by Bloomberg News. The property being sold is co-owned by Loi Pok Yen, a former chief executive officer of logistics services firm CWT.

A spokesperson for Warburg Pincus declined to comment. Loi did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn.

The property is a short distance from the Vietnamese embassy and the Holland Village expatriate enclave. It sits in one of 39 so-called Good Class Bungalow Areas, the only parts of Singapore specially designated for these types of mansions. It adds to more than 20 transactions for the assets this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Ownership of such houses is largely confined to locals, and they are considered some of the priciest residential real estate in the financial hub.

Agarwal is a Singapore citizen and also the CEO of Warburg Pincus’ Singapore unit, corporate records show. He joined the firm in 2009 and relocated to Singapore from New York in 2016, according to a company biography. He previously worked at McKinsey and Temasek. BLOOMBERG